


Kicking Off a Season

by yourlibrarian



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Episode: s02e01 In My Time of Dying, Episode: s03e01 The Magnificent Seven, Episode: s04e01 Lazarus Rising, Episode: s05e01 Sympathy for the Devil, Gen, Meta, Story Arc, Writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-10
Updated: 2016-05-10
Packaged: 2018-06-07 12:11:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6803611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourlibrarian/pseuds/yourlibrarian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Looking back at S5 episodes <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/6803521">in my earlier post</a> made me think of how season premieres figure into the rest of the season.  Not counting the Pilot, which had to set up the whole series and introduce our characters, the strongest premiere episode was in S2.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kicking Off a Season

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted September 21, 2010

Looking back at S5 episodes [in my earlier post](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6803521) made me think of how season premieres figure into the rest of the season. 

Not counting the Pilot, which had to set up the whole series and introduce our characters, the strongest premiere episode was in S2. We can say that S2 was a bit unique in being part of a series mini-arc that spanned the end of S1 and beginning of S2. Yet in S5 we also had an episode that picked up just where the season finale had ended, and it too, built on events in the previous two episodes in S4.

Two other factors made the S2 debut unique. The first is that it didn't add a powerful new force in the Winchesters' lives, it subtracted one. Azazel, Reapers, the Colt, they had all appeared already in S1. (We did get the introduction of Ellen and Jo in 2.02, an episode which I consider closed the mini-arc. But they were hardly a supernatural force). The mini-arc had begun with the introduction of the Colt in 1.20. Then in the season premiere both John, the object of S1's arc, and the Colt, their powerful new force, disappeared. In a way, the premiere was a reset. With their search both resolved and yet not, and their hunt for their nemesis successful but now stalled, the only thing left for the boys to do was to deal with the emotional fallout of these events.

And therein hung the arc of S2: it was entirely emotional rather than action based. In fact, short of licking their wounds and fixing the Impala, there was no clear way forward for them. Even the secret Dean kept was vague at best, telling him no more than what his inner fears had already suggested about Sam. While we have now rehashed their emotional dilemmas so many times that they have become cliché and tiresome, in S2 the development we got of Sam and Dean's inner lives, as well as new aspects of their relationship, powered the season (and a ton of fan fiction). Although its one major failure was the way Sam's loss of John was left hanging, otherwise S2 presented us with first Sam's attempt to move Dean through his grief, and later Dean's attempt to hold Sam's faith in himself together. 

By comparison in S3's Magnificent 7, we do deal a bit with the emotional fallout of Dean's deal making, but the emotional development in the season was always stunted. Part of the reason is that from the season opener on, the event was dealt with largely in terms of Dean's denial (no surprise to anyone there) and the deal as plot device on Sam's part. Never explored is Sam's emotional reaction to what Dean has done, nor what has happened to him as someone who should be dead. Considering that in S2 these two issues were at the core of Dean's emotional arc –- which were set up in the premiere –- perhaps the writers felt they would be doing a retread of that in S3. But this was really not the case since (1) Sam is not Dean and doesn't react to things the way Dean does, and (2) Since Dean had already walked this path, there were now new layers added to the issue. The show demonstrated how this could be done in Dream, when Dean finally acknowledges that he never should have made the deal and doesn't deserve what's going to happen to him. But how Sam feels about this legacy gets expressed mostly in his (sporadically shown) efforts to find a way to save Dean. In S3 we could have explored the missing thread in S2, which is how did Sam feel about what John had done now that Dean's done the same, but this is again not dealt with.

Instead the S3 premiere is spent largely in dealing with a major threat (the 7 Sins) that end up not being much of a threat after all. This is disappointing not just for the season, but in the episode itself, though it does rather foreshadow the way the same will be true of Lilith. We are also introduced to some new characters, but they end up going away never to return. And we are introduced to our new powerful weapon –- Ruby. There is a lot going on here, very little of which is of great concern to the audience. By contrast, in S2 very little happened in 2.01 that was plot related. It was a very Winchester-centered episode, all dealing with their own reactions to events. And on the whole, I think fans tended to respond better to S2 than what came before or after.

In S4 there is a little more promise to the premiere. The opening section with Dean is terrific and it both sets up the mystery of his return and yet has emotional impact. The part with Bobby continues this, and then the reunion is, of course, a major emotional moment. One issue I always had with 4.01 was only partly to do with what was on the page and more about how it played out on screen. I felt that there was a lot missing there that should have been there in terms of how Sam and Dean felt about seeing one another again past the initial moments. Even without knowing what we now know, both should have been seriously wigged out to be in the position of interacting with one another again, not just because of their separation (vast on Dean's side!), but also because of the secrets both were keeping. And while that was only hinted at for Dean, we knew before the end of the episode that it was true for Sam. Execution-wise, something really went amiss there.

In short, the emphasis was all wrong in the episode. Like 3.01, it focused on plot –- how did Dean get back, what may be after him? Frankly, I think they could have dragged those questions out for another episode and made the hunt for answers take longer. It would also have made more sense later on. Supposedly Castiel had been courting his vessel for a while before Jimmy accepted, yet Castiel appears to Dean within a day of his return, when he first appeared vessel-free. Guess it was convenient Jimmy said yes at the right moment.

Obviously the ending of 4.01 is another great moment, one where that season's powerful force was introduced. But the emotional tone was very uneven in the episode and, as they would again in S5, the writers chose to focus on plot over relationships and emotional development.

However, both S3 and S4 look pretty good compared to S5. After leaving the audience on a major cliffhanger, things are tidily resolved yet still confusingly vague by the end of 5.01. Lucifer coming? Oops, magically whisked away. Sam addicted? Not anymore. Castiel dead? Nope, he's back (though how and why also mysterious). The only really powerful events that happened involved Bobby, first in the scene where Sam apologizes and then when he overcomes the demon to spare Dean and is left seriously injured. In between we had that pointless scene with Chuck and Becky, a reference again to John's lock-up (which had no follow-up in S5), the return of Meg which also went nowhere, and a few exposition bits such as the rib sigils and finding out that demons and angels were both still after them.

In a rather telling fashion, the "powerful force" of S5 was one that would remain largely unseen for most of the season –- Michael. We are given a temporary sleight of hand in defying the expectation that Sam would be Lucifer's vessel by instead being told that Dean was to be Michael's. Of course, despite the lengthy set-up to show Nick becoming that vessel, he is never of any further importance in the season and Sam finds out only two episodes later that yes, he IS supposed to be the opposing vessel. 

I suspect for many viewers the really important part of the episode came in the final few minutes of the show, first when Sam and Dean attempt to cheer Bobby, and Bobby expresses his forgiveness of Sam. And then, of course, when Dean tells Sam that he just can't do that yet. It's a sad sort of statement on how the season as a whole went, when Sam and Dean's major issues with themselves and one another taking a back seat to a crammed episode of plot points, many of which were either dropped threads or red herrings. 

So my hope for S6 is that the focus of the episode be on what's critically important, which is delving into the emotional state of each of the main characters first, and secondarily providing some information on the seasonal arc (which I assume will somehow involve how it is that Sam's returned). We should get an idea of who these two people are after all they've gone through and why we should still care. The show has got a whole season to set up plot developments, what they need to do in 6.01 is connect with the audience and have the characters connect (in some way) with one another.


End file.
